Tying into the above, as these projections are developed, the imaging IT staff often turn to imaging IT vendors to provide historical effort estimates for healthcare provider IT staff from past projects. Often, the imaging IT vendors do not have access to this aggregated, statistical data for the provider staff, only their own staff. Healthcare provider staff sometimes think that imaging IT vendors collect this type of data, when it is not normally provided to them by their healthcare provider enterprise customers.
Related to the above, healthcare provider staff are increasingly asked to provide projections on several imaging IT project aspects prior to the project plan being developed along with the system’s vendor.
For example, before an imaging IT system implementation project kickoff, contract signing, or even budget approval, some healthcare provider enterprises want projections for when specific project expenses will be realized (typically down to a given quarter of the fiscal year). They may also want to know in which month each role required to perform work for the project will be asked to invest their time, along with an estimate of how much of their time will be needed.
Often the vendor is ready to work through these details once they have a contract and the project is kicked off, but given the expectations of such enterprises, this needs to be completed much earlier. Vendors that can provide these insights during the evaluation/sales process, complete with all of the necessary stated assumptions, will provide increased value to their potential customers.
The future
There is little indication that the trend toward consolidation among healthcare provider and vendor organizations will cease. Larger orgs will acquire smaller orgs to fill gaps in their strategies. New technologies, like AI and IMR, will continue to receive attention, but will likely suffer some setbacks before achieving widespread adoption. And healthcare provider organizations will continue to look to align their staff reporting structure, as well as planning and accounting practices, to establish more enterprise-wide standards of operating, performance measures, and workflows. The common theme is efficiency — getting more out of what is invested.
About the author: Don Dennison, CIIP, FSIIM, is a consultant who has worked in the medical imaging informatics industry for over 15 years. A fellow of the College of the Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM), he is a frequent speaker and panelist at SIIM, RSNA, and other conferences on topics ranging from medical imaging record interoperability, integration of imaging data within the EMR, multifacility integration, and others.Back to HCB News
